Colleen Olle’s picture book Sophia and Sinclair Get Lost! has received an enthusiastic review. Laura Smith, a middle-grade author who writes for HubPages, “was pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns this story takes” and deems this book “a perfect autumn read.”

In an interview with Laura, Colleen reflects on her picture book writing process and more.

Marianne Brems’s poem “It’s Like That Sometimes” was published in The Midnight Fawn Review on November 30. Learn more about Marianne.

James Hanna’s rant, “Orville Baumgardner and the Circle of Limbo,” appears as a reprint in A Thin Slice of Anxiety. First published in Cream Scene Carnival, this piece combines America’s toxic gun culture with Dante’s Inferno. James takes great pleasure in relegating our NRA puppets to the deepest recesses of hell. After all, why should Dante have all the fun?

Join developmental editor Eva Barrows and copy editor Lila LaBine for a free one-hour Zoom session on Wednesday, January 15, at 11:00 a.m. PST. The discussion will center around common point of view issues authors face when writing their first drafts and methods to solve them. Read more and register here.

On Thursday, December 5 at 6:30 p.m., Geri Spieler will be in conversation with David Harris about her latest book Regina of Warsaw: Love, Loss and Liberation. This historical fiction is based on her grandmother’s story of fleeing the violence and anti-Semitism of Eastern Europe at the turn of the century. This free event will take place in the Embarcadero Room at the Palo Alto Rinconada Library.

Marianne Brems will be one of the guest readers in the Winter 2024 Kelsay Books Reading on Zoom. She will read from her new poetry collection Stepping Stones on December 14 from 12:00–1:30 p.m. If you wish to attend, please register in advance to receive the link. Copies of Stepping Stones are available from Kelsay Books and Amazon. 

From Kelsay Press comes Carol Park’s poetry collection, Songs Sharp & Tender. Often biographical narratives delve into intercultural marriage, local dilemmas (fire and political splits), travel, loss, and a neurodivergent marriage with the anger, grief, and empathy essential to our journey. Find it at Kelsay Books or Amazon in paperback and on Kindle. 

People who want to write a memoir often find themselves reluctant to begin or continue writing because of the nature of the story they want to tell. Maybe the story is dark, and you want to write without being pulled back into painful memories. Maybe your story will upset someone in your family if it’s published. Maybe you haven’t begun to write this story, because you don’t know where to start.

At Writers Helping Writers in November, you’ll discover how other writers have handled such stories and look at ways you can navigate the writing process so you feel less pressure and more safety as you tell your story—hard as it might be—in your own way.

Join Darlene Frank on Thursday, November 14, 6:30 p.m.–8:00 p.m. at San Mateo Public Library and on Thursday, November 21, 6:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m. at Rinconada Library in Palo Alto.

After submitting your manuscript, the next stage of your author’s journey begins. At our November meeting, Carole Bumpus will explore the essential steps every author needs to take to ensure their book reaches its full potential. From establishing an online presence and crafting compelling meta data to understanding your target audience and hiring a publicist, you’ll learn how to become your book’s greatest advocate. Please join us Sunday, November 17, 10 a.m.—noon at the Sequoia Yacht Club in Redwood City.

Kate Adams, Fault Zone poetry editor, will host two Writers Helping Writers events in October. On Thursday, October 10, from 6:30 p.m.–8:00 p.m., at San Mateo Public Library, she will invite writers to look at poetic lines and build a quatrain and blank verse. She will also offer advice for submitting to the Fault Zone anthology (deadline October 31).

On Thursday, October 17, from 6:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m., at Rinconada Library in Palo Alto, Kate and fellow writers will help each other explore that special space where half the page can be left empty in the service of enhancing the meaning of the other half.

Join writer and aspiring author Megan E. McDonald at our Saturday, October 19, meeting as she demystifies the process of compiling a comprehensive target list. First, she will demonstrate the essential tools one can use to research prospective agents. Second, she will run through her own system based on her writing style and current projects, then open the floor to one or two attendees and help them start to compile lists live. You will leave with a better understanding of how to frame your search for relevant agents.

Literally Stories, a site that has published twenty of James Hanna’s tales, interviews him in a Sunday feature entitled “Sunday Whoever.” The questions are fun questions and are not to be taken too seriously.